The Low Carb Luxury Online Magazine: Volume V / Number 02: January 16, 2004


January 16, 2004 PAGE 6 > About LCL Magazine > Cover Page > Inside Cover Feature Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Low Carb Kids!

The Devil Made Me Do It

Becoming Real

The Goodness of Butter

Cosmetic Surgery: Part II

Nibbles & Noshes

Idol Thoughts

Too Much Information?

Kitchen Knives: A Primer

Warm Up With Soups!

You Make The Call

Snapshot: Don Pablo's

ISSUE ARCHIVES

"Do a little more each day than you think you possibly can."
— Lowell Thomas

Some people are married to the mob — I'm married to a muncher. Kim loves his snacks, and if he's going to succeed on following a low carb program, I have to get busy making some! Many people say they miss the "crunch" on low carb, so I tried to come up with what works at our house.

L-C–Its

Okay, I'm making a bad pun here, but these actually do taste like those famous little cheese crackers. I've tweaked the original recipe to make it more like a regular cracker in taste, and give it a little more spice.

1 1/4 Cup Sunflower seeds, raw
1/4 Cup Almond flour
1 1/2 Cup Cheddar cheese, freshly shredded (the sharper the better)
1/4 Cup Water
2 tsp. Ground cumin
1/2 tsp. Coarse salt

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

Using a food processor, grind up the sunflower seeds and almond flour until it makes a fine meal. Add the shredded cheddar, cumin and salt, pulse to blend. Add 1/4 cup of water and pulse until it forms a sticky dough.

Place some parchment paper on a large cookie sheet (don't try to grease the cookie sheet and skip the parchment, it won't work), then, using a spatula, place the dough on the parchment. Place another sheet of parchment on top, and using a peanut butter jar (I found this works better than your hands, and a rolling pin is too big) spread the dough out in an even layer. Remove top sheet of parchment, lightly sprinkle with salt and score the cracker dough with a knife.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, and remove to a rack to cool.

Makes approx. 60 crackers, Net Effective Carbohydrate: .40 grams per cracker.

Stuffed Mushrooms

I love mushrooms, and they are a great appetizer for guests. They also make great filler when you just want to graze and snack instead of eating a real meal (not that we ever do that!)

2 - 8 oz. packages of large mushrooms (pick the biggest mushrooms you can find)
1/2 lb. Sweet Italian sausage
3/4 cup of finely shredded Parmesan cheese
2 oz. Cream cheese
1 Tbs. Italian seasoning
1/4 cup Olive oil
Coarse salt for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 425° F.

Wash the mushrooms and remove the stems (save these in the freezer for making soup later). Place the mushroom caps in a large Ziploc bag and add the olive oil. Zip shut and shake until mushrooms are coated lightly. Place mushrooms, stem side up on a large, sided cookie sheet. Sprinkle the inside of each cap with a little coarse salt.

Bake for 10 minutes, flip over the mushrooms, bake for 6 minutes more. Place mushroom caps on a double thickness of paper towels, stem side down. This pre-baking forces excess moisture out of the mushrooms. Let cool about 10 minutes.

While the mushroom caps are cooling, turn oven down to 350° F. In a medium mixing bowl, blend together the sausage, cheese, cream cheese and seasoning. Once mushrooms are cool, place them stem side up on a cookie sheet, and stuff with the filling. Bake for 20 minutes.

Makes approx. 24 mushrooms. Net effective carbohydrate: 1.0 per mushroom.

L-C Elle's Dip

Something to dip crackers, pork rinds or crunchy vegetables in.

4 oz. Sour cream
4 oz. Cream cheese (room temperature)
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1 tsp. Onion powder
1 Tbs. Italian seasoning

Mix all of the above together, refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Serve with celery, cucumber slices, or other low carb vegetable dippers.

Makes approx. 4 servings. Net effective carbohydrate: 2.0 per serving.

Chicken Salad

A great snack or a wonderful summertime meal starter. We serve it many ways, with celery, rolled up in leaf lettuce or tortillas, or Kim's favorite; use it as a pork rind dip. Very filling!

2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cooked
1 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Cup Dill pickle relish
1/4 Cup Splenda
Salt & pepper to taste

I cook my chicken breasts in the microwave with a little butter, garlic salt and pepper, approx. 6 minutes per side, let cool, then shred apart. In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients. The splenda makes the dill pickle relish sweet.

At this point, you can add extras in if you'd like. I've been known to add bacon bits, finely chopped celery, and water chestnuts. It's up to you to add to it, or to leave it plain.

Note: If you can find Mt. Olive Splenda sweetened relish in your area, use that instead of the dill relish with Splenda.

Makes approx. 4 servings. Net effective carbohydrate: 2.0 per serving.

Beef Rollups

These are a great snack for a picnic, in the car, or just watching TV. You can cut them into bite-sized pieces if adding to a platter for a party. Non-LCer's will like them as much as you do.

2 pkgs. Carl Buddig Beef
8 oz. Cream cheese (room temperature)
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. Onion powder
1 tsp. Garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Dill weed
2 tsp. Italian seasoning

Add the cream cheese, Worcestershire sauce and all the spices into a bowl and blend until smooth. Spread onto individual slices of beef in a thin layer.

Roll up and refrigerate at least an hour or two before serving.

Makes approx. 24 servings. Net effective carbohydrate: 0.25 per serving.

Low Carb Connoisseur
has New Atkins Cereals & Pasta Sides!!

Atkins Morning Start Breakfast Cereals is a hearty and healthful way to enjoy a satisfying breakfast or crunchy snack! Now you can still control your carbs and sugar intake with a variety of tasty choices: Crunchy Almond Crisp, Blueberry Bounty and Banana Nut Harvest!

With New Atkins Quick Quisine Pasta Sides, you can enjoy pasta as a delicious accent to any of your favorite controlled carb meals. Paired with your favorite vegetable, grilled or broiled chicken, steak or fish, Atkins Quick Quisine Pasta Sides are a convenient way to compliment your meal and are perfect for the entire family. Three delicious varieties to choose from: Elbows & Cheese, Pesto Cream and Fettuccini.

Low Carb Connoisseur — we put the Dash in Low-Carb.com!